Published 7:30 pm, Saturday, January 4, 2014

He’s president of the Permian Basin Running Club. He owns an oil service company, Line Quest. He maintains a farm in Gardendale with his fiancée, a veterinarian.

And to top it all off, he’s a bull rider.

Hailey is quick to say it’s not always easy. His days start at 5 a.m., when he rises to run and feed the animals on the farm. He’s had his fair share of struggles in life — his dad passed away when he was young, and school was always tough for him. It’s all made him a stronger person, he said.

“In reaching any type of success, there’s failures,” he said. “They can make you stronger or tear you down. I feel like, failures, they just build me up.”

Raised in Oklahoma, Hailey moved to Breckenridge, a small town in north-central Texas, when he was 10. His mother, father and brother all ran track — “We were kind of a track family,” he said.

He went to college to run track and field, where he was a record-holder in many events, including the outdoor 3,000-meter run, the indoor mile and the indoor distance medley relay.

After earning a master’s degree in sports management, Hailey came to Midland to be the athletic director at Midland Charter Academy. A few years ago, he founded the Permian Basin Running Club to connect with other runners in the area.

“Because I was competitive for so long, now I do it more for fun,” he said. “I just enjoy being around runners.”

Among the many road races and trail runs he’s competed in with the club, Hailey won last month’s Kick for Kenya 5K/10K, held by the Kenya Widows and Orphans Ministries. He’s run all around the world, from the Down Under International Games in Australia to races in Hawaii.

These days, you can find him running alongside his soon-to-be wife, Anna Scheinzbach. The two will be married next year.

“We run together, not every day, but a lot of days,” Hailey said. “Anna’s a veterinarian, and we get a lot of animals on our farm. We have a blind horse; we have a three-legged dog that she had to amputate its leg. We get a lot of animals that, to a lot of people, they’re not wanted.”

Hailey’s days start at 5 a.m., when he rises to squeeze in a quick run before feeding the bulls, horses, dogs, cats and other animals on the farm.

“If you want to do something, there’s time to do it,” he said. “Don’t use time as a crutch. You might have to wake up earlier — at 5 o’clock, to go run before you feed the bulls at 6 and still get to work at 7 — but you can do it, you can find time.”

Work for Hailey is Line Quest, the oil service company he opened six months ago. Growing up, his father operated pipeline patrol flights — “The oilfield was always in the back of my mind,” he said.

He also embarked on another new adventure this year — bull riding. He’d ridden bulls for fun in high school and college and wanted to try it again. Earlier this year, he competed in his first official rodeo.

“The first one, I was bucked off,” he said with a laugh. “That just made me want to do it again.”

For Hailey, the danger of bull riding makes the sport more attractive to him.

“I like to do things that not everybody can do,” he said. “Not everybody can run marathons; not everybody is willing to get on a bull. The possibility of getting injured — it drives me to accomplish things.”

Hailey stressed that success means something different to every person. Everyone is capable of achieving their dreams, he said — the key is knowing your potential.

“I think everybody has something they want to do, but something might be holding them back,” he said. “It’s all about the desire — what do you desire to be? No matter where you’re at today, determination and the inability to give up will eventually lead to a better situation.”

He credits his supportive family for inspiring and encouraging him.

“When you face challenging situations in life, a lot of people turn to drugs or things of that kind,” he said. “I turn to challenges. When things get hard, I find another challenge and go after it. Knowing that there’s a possibility of failure drives me to accomplishment.”